∆ {4³} {SLIP-UP} ∆
IT WAS IMMEDIATE. The moment the truck that had rammed through the barrier, a group dressed in black combat gear swarmed into the facility, and Roxi found herself thrown into combat once more. Sam and Steve were easily the first ones in, as Roxi continued to wind her way over to the Institute, weaving in between hordes of people who reminded her of Sokovia. The crowds there had only hindered her, reminded her of the weight that they on their shoulders, of the burden and responsibility that they carried. They had to win, every time, because otherwise, everyone lost. If they failed, the rest of the world payed the consequences. That was something that Roxi was sure that she wasn't ready for.
But she was rarely ready for anything, and over the years, she had persuaded herself that you could never truly be ready for something, no matter what it was. But Roxi knew how to fight, and she wasn't going to let them lose today, or ever. Not as long as she could help it.
By the time she actually reached the fight, the others had done a good deal of the work - Natasha had used a motorcycle and Wanda had flown, while Roxi had just settled for her normal method of running as fast as she could. She didn't mind though. As long as they managed to bag Rumlow with minimum casualties, then the mission would be a success. It was as Wanda began to siphon the gas that Rumlow had used out of the building that she arrived, slowing to a stop with her quarterstaff extended in her hand, her fingers wrapping around the grip carefully. She had been working on keeping her emotions in check over the past year, after her incidents involved in the events the previous year.
Wanda had been more help than she'd suspected, even though the girl had peered into her mind and now saw her in a way that no-one else never would. She had quite literally seen the horrors that Roxi's mind produced, and put her through almost daily, when she woke up trying her hardest not to scream so that she wouldn't disturb Natasha in the next room over. Of course, they'd been magnified strongly when Wanda had thrown open the metaphorical trapdoor in Roxi's mind that the icy-eyed woman used to help her compartmentalize. Wanda had started to teach her how to use the trapdoor as a sort of filter, so that she would be able to find it easier to process her emotions and her memories, so that they didn't explode out of her in a burst like the one she had let out in Sokovia.
Natasha had been reluctant at letting the Maximoff get too close to Roxi; she wanted to protect her, because the woman meant more to her than anything ever had. It didn't help that Wanda knew her name, something that had taken so long for Roxi to tell her. It was a monumental part of the woman's past, and for Wanda to know it by having slammed her way through every defence that Roxi had put over the years, and then meddle with the woman's deepest fears; it didn't sit right with Natasha. Nevertheless, if it was what Roxi needed, she wouldn't stand in the way of it. The woman needed it, and Natasha wanted her to be happy, and she would do almost anything so that she was. Roxi wasn't quite like anyone she had ever met, and Natasha wouldn't let any harm come to her if she could help it. Both of them had been through so much, and while Natasha had undoubtedly been put through more, she had been brought up to deal with those sorts of issues, and found them much easier to look past, to overcome. Roxi had had to teach herself to do that, to process her childhood, and every way that she had been different, every way that she wasn't normal, that she didn't have an average life.
She hadn't done it as well as she should've, and for a long time, she'd settled for shutting everything out as best she could. That had brought her to 2014, in DC and in her little house with Natasha, where she had realised that maybe, emotions weren't so bad. And then there was Ultron, where she had found that she had no clue how to regulate what she was feeling. She needed help with it, no matter how much she didn't want to admit it, and Wanda had been able to help with that.
Roxi slammed the point of her quarterstaff into the throat of one of Rumlow's agents, ignoring the way that the blood gushed out of the injury so swiftly in favour of not getting her head taken off by Steve's shield, which she only just managed to dodge. Even if she'd had her powers for 3 years, her reflex. her initial reaction, would always be physical, just as she had been taught.
She glared in Steve's direction, though he simply let out a quick apology before he made his way into the building, and she turned her attention back to fighting the remaining number of Rumlow's men. Some of them she took down with only well-aimed jabs to the neck or head, while others ended up bloodying the metal of her weapon or dead on the floor when she ripped apart the trucks and threw pieces of them at Rumlow's soldiers.
"Rumlow's got the biological weapon!" Steve informed them a moment later, as Roxi realised that she was finally getting used to the burst of static their comms emitted every time that someone spoke through them. She'd asked Tony at some point about developing a better version, but either he hadn't heard her, or he brushed it off as if he hadn't. She hadn't pushed, especially after all the effort that the man had gone through to help her figure out what was happening to her. Roxi opened her mouth to reply to Steve as she finished off another of Rumlow's, though Natasha beat her to it as Roxi registered the redhead's motorbike roaring somewhere behind her.
"I'm on it!" Roxi, for the most part, ignored the commotion around her as she focused on keeping herself, her Natasha, and her team alive, and worked on getting rid of as many of Rumlow's as she could. She should've caught it from the corner of her eye, but instead , it was Natasha's alarmed half-shout that attracted her attention. Roxi's head snapped in the redhead's direction, only to find the redhead fighting with Rumlow on top of one of the huge armoured vehicles that he and his men had come in. She began to make her way over, quite literally dodging a bullet as she ran - once again, as fast as she could. If it was possible, she increased her pace when Rumlow unceremoniously chucked Natasha down into the vehicle with a grenade and closed the hatch. She gave the man no other thought than a wave of her hand that sent him flying as she made her way to the back of the vehicle, trying to find the locks for the door in the mess of metals that she could feel in front of her. It didn't help that they were all made out of the same thing.
She managed to get it open and pull Natasha out just as the grenade went off, sending the pair of them to the ground as the explosion clouded the air hungrily, devouring the two men that she had caught a quick glimpse of inside the vehicle, who Natasha had already handled. It was only when Roxi stopped coughing that she realised that she was in a very close proximity to the redhead, and her eyes widened in slight surprise as Natasha slid her signature grin onto her face and winked at Roxi.
"Thanks," the redhead got out, her voice slightly hoarse from the smoke, and Roxi found her body suddenly feeling warmer than it should. She was tempted to roll her eyes at herself; she was on a mission, and she and Natasha had plenty of free time outside of missions anyway.
"No problem."
"Sam. He's in an AFV, heading North," Steve stated, and Roxi pushed herself to her feet, offering a hand to Natasha that the redhead took with that smirk still painted onto her features. They exchanged a glance, and both made their way over to Natasha's bike, which still lay on its side, and Roxi shot her an unimpressed look that was mostly defeated by the adrenaline that was still sending shockwaves through her system.
"You couldn't park it normally?" She asked as she heaved it up, getting onto the vehicle and leaving Natasha no choice but to get on behind her. Natasha had been taught her the basics over the past year, and it would be enough for now. As they sped out of the Institute grounds and wound through streets, Roxi couldn't help but find herself remembering that they'd done something very similar in Seoul a year ago, and a faint smile made its way onto her face as she spoke up, feeling a quick surge of confidence.
"You know, we never got around to going to that café," she remarked, her eyes staying trained on the corners and roads in front of her. She didn't want to crash into anything today. Natasha made a noise of agreement behind her, and tightened her grip around Roxi's waist as they took a slightly sharper corner.
"You know, it's a bit odd. We've known each other for what, 4 years, and we've never been on a date." The redhead replied, and Roxi felt the woman smirking against her back.
"A date? If you wanted to go on one, you should've asked, Romanoff," Roxi teased back. She still felt so secure, even if they were fighting a strong ex-HYDRA agent who most likely had it out for her. Because this was her world, their world. This was something that both women could say they shared with complete confidence.
"I'll consider it, Ryder." Roxi finally pulled them into the crammed market place that she'd followed Sam to, deciding to ignore the fact that the rest of the team had been listening to she and Natasha flirt for the last couple of minutes as Sam spoke up, breaking the deep silence that ensued.
"I've got four, they're splitting up," He reported, as both Natasha and Roxi got off the bike.
"See you in a minute," the redhead called out and a smile twisted Roxi's lips up as she replied in kind and made their way towards one of the pairs of men, Roxi staying a second longer to make sure that it didn't fall over.
"I've got the two on the left," Natasha proclaimed, and by the time Roxi looked up, she'd managed to lose sight of the woman's flaming red hair in the crowd.
"I'll take one on the right," Roxi added, sprinting after the rightmost man's retreating figure. He'd split up from his partner, and that made it easier for her to pick him up. Thankfully, the people who had been milling around the market before the chaos had started had the sense to get out of her way as she ran through the crowds. It didn't take her long to catch up to him, and then a simple slam to the head with her quarterstaff had him out cold, followed by a quick frisk of his body that gave her what she needed to know. He was clear, and it was up to either Sam or Natasha to get the biological weapon now.
"I'm empty," she reported quickly, sending another blow to the man's temple as he began to stir, only just processing through the comms that Rumlow had attacked Steve and that Natasha had whatever Rumlow had been after.
"Payload secure, thanks, Sam."
"How is it that I'm the fastest runner here except Steve but you still manage to take down two guys in the time it takes me to catch up to mine?" Roxi asked, humour shining through the iron veil that she usually hid behind so well. Natasha let out a contemplative sound as, once again, Roxi found herself sprinting through the crowd to try and get to Steve and help him with Rumlow.
"Guess my guy was slower?" Natasha suggested, before the line lapsed into a hush as snatches of Steve and Rumlow's conversation carried through the comms. She only got broken words, but only one really stuck out to her, regardless of the slightly rushed way that Rumlow had said it. 'Bucky'. It was more than enough to inspire Roxi to try and get there faster, so she pushed forward, trying to make her pounding legs that were beginning to burn carry on for a little bit longer, trying to soothe the burning of her lungs with large gulps of the hot, stale, dusty Nigerian air. It did little to help, because she arrived a moment too late. Wanda had popped back up, straining to keep a ball of fire in the round sphere that she'd managed to contain it in. It took a moment to realise that Rumlow was in the explosion; that he'd been wearing some kind of suicide vest, rigged to explode wildly when he triggered it. Roxi couldn't do anything other than watch with secretly horrified eyes as Wanda's grip on the explosion began to slip and the girl pushed it up as high as she could into the air, where she lost all control over it entirely, and the flames billowed out like a hellish storm cloud, blowing into the side of the nearest building, the blast eventually dissipating, leaving nothing but frail whisps of smoke as evidence. They would be carried away by the wind soon, though, and the only thing left to prove what had happened would be whoever was injured or killed in the explosion.
It wasn't Wanda's fault. Rumlow had been the one to trigger the bomb and Wanda was still getting a grip on her powers. But Roxi knew that the world wouldn't see it that way. They had got away with New York, DC, even Sokovia. But then, the world had been on the brink of ending. And now, something far less substantial was on the line, and instead of being thanked, they would be scolded by the government, and it was possible that people would begin to change their views on them. Roxi wasn't too concerned of what they thought of her personally, but public image was direly important in a job like the one they had. This wasn't going to go well.
{A/N:} Ik, ik, I'm 15 minutes past midnight, leave me alone lmao. Yeah didn't get inspiration for this until a few hours ago so here you are, Lagos pt. 2. I actually have quite distinctive plans for the sides and stuff, and which one Roxi's gonna be on and why, but I guess you'll have to wait to find out.
Also I found this book the other day and I love it so I figured I'd do that thing where I occasionally recommend books so here you go. It's called 'tactus' by igottagay_go. But yeah, go enjoy that and I might do some actual proper work on this in the meantime :). Also having issues with the banner so you got a text sign-off today :). Thanks.
Pls vote, comment, let me know what you think, etc.,
2620 Words
Written: 17 / 04 / 2021
Published: 17 / 04 / 2021
JabberJay_011